Shares owned by B.C. polygamist Winston Blackmore up for auction

Shares in two companies owned by a Creston-area man convicted of polygamy are up on the auction block.

One hundred per cent of shares owned by Winston Blackmore in both Church of Jesus Christ (Original Doctrine) INC. and Blackmore Farms Ltd. are up for auction, according to a classified advertisment in the Calgary Herald.

North Central Bailiffs is auctioning off the shares on behalf of the judgement creditor.

The shares are valued at $280,000 for Church of Jesus Christ (Original Doctrine) Inc., while the estimated value for Blackmore Farms Ltd. is $536,000.

“Each one of those companies owns property in the Creston area,” said Michael Sundstrom, a bailiff with North Central Bailiffs Ltd.

“…So the successful bidder would own the shares and everything that goes along with it, so if there’s people on the properties that are owned by the companies, they may have to go, maybe they can stay; these are unknowns that would have to be worked out post-sale.

“There are a lot of moving parts to this.”

Sundstrom estimates bids will be accepted over the next 30 days, barring any mutually-agreeable resolution between Blackmore and his creditor.

Blackmore, the leader of a Mormon fundamentalist sect south of Creston, has been involved in numerous legal proceedings over the last 30 years.

He was recently convicted of practicing polygamy with 24 women and sentenced to six months of house arrest and one year of probation in Cranbrook Supreme Court last June.

During the sentencing hearing, Blackmore’s lawyer told the court his client was nearly bankrupt, while arguing the hardship his family and community would experience if he was imprisioned.